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Author Topic: StudioPrint 14 anyone?  (Read 3431 times)

r010159

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StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« on: September 17, 2015, 01:39:26 am »

Hello all!

Does anyone use the StudioPrint RIP for their fine art printing? I have just purchased the current raster only version, StudioPrint 14. I am finding a plethora of user defined option and settings. This includes density curves, linearization, ink assignment, ink limits, dot gain, and I do not know what else...yet. This is good, because I like challenges which is when I learn the most.

I am starting my little adventure by attempting to set up a printer environment. I need to look up the name of the port that I will use for my USB printer. So I have a long way to go before I can intelligently utilize this RIP for printing. So far, my only disappointment is that this software only works on a Windows platform. I am running StudioPrint Win7 Pro. Argh!

Has anyone used this RIP successfully, particularly for fine art prints? Is there a users group for this software? I understand that, with the Epson printers, the importance of its Quadtone capabilities have been diminished by the Epson Advanced B&W printing mode feature of the newer Epson printers. But is this the only productive use that other have found for this RIP? I cannot find much information in terms of reviews for this RIP, except the older one on StudioPrint 10 which has been published eons ago, at least in the world of software. I suspect this StudioPrint RIP will have its additional uses in the reproduction of fine art images.

BTW it appears that it comes with its own profiler. I intend on using another profiler for this purpose. But I think there are additional controls available to me if I use their own profile, ColorGPS, that comes with this RIP package.

PS: I did not know that display gamma relates to the dot gain of the print. Apparently, this is one factor that needs to be considered in a match of the print to the display. I learn something new every day. :)

Bob

PPS: I know this latest purchase of mine will puzzle Andrew, but of course I will welcome any feedback. ;)
« Last Edit: September 17, 2015, 03:45:04 am by r010159 »
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aaronchan

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2015, 03:51:03 am »

I have used it before with Epson X880 series printer.

I don't think there is a StudioPrint forum or group.

ColorGPS is good, really good, compare to i1Profiler (maybe the output could be the same but ColorGPS simplified a lot of settings)
Usually a in-RIP color profiler has "LESS" setting compare to standalone profiler such as Copra or i1Profiler.
So if you want to play with what you have (I remember you have copra if I'm correct), go ahead and you have should more things to concern within the profiler software.

One thing that I do believe is if you want to get a good looking print, the printer driver with a proper icc profile should be better than using a RIP which you have to linearize, ink limit, cmyk profile everything by yourself. The reason why is because the printer factory has all the internal data to create the linearzation file and such with their million dolloar investment, I don't think as a single human could beat the whole entire well paid team. Of cuz this is not 100% true, but in most cases, that's the real fact. But as a print maker, I do always love to challenage myself. Try to find the unique path for my workflow. That's not gonna hurt and it's gonna be fun!

Have fun with your new software.

aaron

TylerB

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2015, 04:46:09 pm »

Hi Bob, this is one reason I hoped you'd try it in demo first. I've used this RIP in various versions since 2003. for both Cone B&W inks, and Epson inks, and some custom stuff, for B&W and color, gloss and matte. This happens every time.. someone gets the RIP and about a week later shows up on forums needing input. It's a good RIP, but has many advanced features and a steep learning curve. All I can suggest is that you settle into the learning, and be patient, it will take time. Over the 12 year period I've used it, there are still some things that are a mystery to me. I hope you love tinkering.
There is a google group for it, if you join you may be able to review some years of posts there, but it's been very inactive for some time-
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/studioprint

Like Aaron I'd suggest the Epson RGB screening, good RGB profiles, to get up and going and solve initial issues. THere are supplied environments for that, and the usual Epson media selections. Then you can go ahead and print really well, and concurrently explore setting up your own multichannel environments to see how far you can take that approach.
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r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2015, 07:54:31 pm »

Trying the demo would of been a wiser course of action. Still, I am really looking forward to my learning curve.. This is what I enjoy, apart from the substantial cost of paper. I want to find out how well I can reproduce images on paper. Then I will help others do the same,

Bob

PS It may be a good move to purchase some shares of Epson. I suspect my future purchases of paper will by itself move the price up a couple points. LOL
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TylerB

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2015, 08:21:31 pm »

if you don't want to go with a PC, I got rid of my PC and used v12 then v14 in bootcamp with XP, and now use it in Win7 via vmware. GPS profiler is good for CMYK and N channel (relative colormetric NOT perceptual), I don't recomment it for RGB. Be sure and check your CMYK(+) profiles against RGB profiles on the same media, with Colorthink, that's where you learn the challenges of the multichannel approach. Also, print granger rainbows, which quickly reveal what we'd call "hollow" shadow colors. If problems, that puts you back to channel limiting, total ink settings, and the profile build settings... density vs chroma limiting.. what the profiling software wants to see that makes no sense.. etc etc..
It can be compelling, and is the guts of printing ink on paper. Ashes and Snow was printed on a Roland, using StudioPrint, and special inks, on custom handmade japanese paper...
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aaronchan

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2015, 06:09:58 am »

Tyler mentioned a very good thing.
Use ColorThink to determin individual channel limit vs chroma.
This is really important, even more than the icc profile
because this is what everything based on

aaron

r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2015, 10:41:10 am »

Thank you very much for all the info!

Will my license allow me to run SP within a virtual machine, running on the Mac OS, even though I currently have it running on Windows 7 from a Bootcamp partition? IOW will the  license transfer? I am sure the software will think it is running on a different PC when run from within the virtual machine.

Just to get started, I am trying to set up a printer environment with my Epson 3880. There appears to be no predefined environments for this printer. Also, when I attempt to create a new environment, there is no selection showing up for my printer and its port. Actually, nothing shows up as a printer. Do any of you have thoughts on this problem?

BTW I am finding that the google mailing list for this software is a very good source of information.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2015, 10:44:37 am by r010159 »
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aaronchan

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2015, 11:39:55 am »

Since I don't use SP14 anymore and I don't have that installed on my pc, I can't really solve your printer port problem out of my head right now.

But for the license thing, the license goes by the dongle, you can't have 2 copies running at the same time, so it won't NOT let you install on the other machine. I used to install it on both of my workstation and my laptop, incase my workstation wants to go for a coffee break or something.

aaron

r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2015, 01:00:02 pm »

Since I don't use SP14 anymore and I don't have that installed on my pc, I can't really solve your printer port problem out of my head right now.

But for the license thing, the license goes by the dongle, you can't have 2 copies running at the same time, so it won't NOT let you install on the other machine. I used to install it on both of my workstation and my laptop, incase my workstation wants to go for a coffee break or something.

aaron

Thank you. May I ask why you no longer use StudioPrint? Have you found better software for your purposes? I like the plethora of configurable options with StudioPrint. But I want to keep up to date on the other options available to me.

Bob
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TylerB

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2015, 04:25:37 pm »

...There appears to be no predefined environments for this printer. Also, when I attempt to create a new environment, there is no selection showing up for my printer and its port. Actually, nothing shows up as a printer.

Some of this stuff should be in the documentation, Ergosoft should be of some help to you with this stuff for some period of time after your purchase.

But-
... in the +/- environments display.. hit add/ Epson/ Stylus Pro 3880/ LCMK.. name it something and add it, then you can work with the settings, including assigning a port. The port thing is not easy to explain quickly here.. but you should be able to work it out.. I found it easiest to go ahead and install the Epson windows driver for the model, which should create a port, and make sure you can print to it, anything at all like a doc in the notebook application or something. That will also get you your utilities for checks and cleanings. Then you can find that on the list when you go back into StudioPrint to assign a port for the environment.

They also have a download button there in the environments section, and have a limited amount of pre configured environments there but I saw nothing for the 3880. ANything there is accessed right within the application. Also, they should get you a member log in for the website support area, they sometimes have additional enviroments there for download, and that's where you will find version dot updates as well.
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r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2015, 05:47:22 pm »


Thank you for this valuable information. I have performed all of what you suggested to me. I still cannot find my printer in the drop down list when setting up a printer environment. I will need to get some technical assistance on this. First, I will carefully read through the manual that I just discovered can be installed off the DVD.

I have received an interesting e-mail from Ergosoft USA. Phil there told me that I need to obtain technical support from the reseller who I had purchased this software from. Otherwise, I will need to pay something like $65 an hour (maybe more) for technical support directly from Ergosoft. However, I am finding out the reseller is reluctant to provide me with this support. I do think their knowledge of thus product is very limited. For instance, they thought that all I needed was my temporary id to validate me as a user of StudioPrint. They even had me attempt to enter the numeric part of the temp id as my license number for this product! LOL So we shall see. Eventually, I may need Ergosoft themselves to provide technical support of their product.

Bob
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r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2015, 03:26:55 am »

After seeing that the creation of a printer environment does not allow me to select a printer, I exited and installed the Epson driver for the printer. In agreement with you, I thought this would create a printer designation and port number that can be recognized by Win7 and its apps. Then I went once again to create a printer environment for an arbitrary media selection for the printer and its OEM inks. Still the printer did not show up as an item to be selected. So I perused the type of port options.

Originally, I was specifying that there was a direct connection to the printer. I then saw a selection available to set up a "Windows" printer. This approach worked! I had originally thought this selection was to bypass the RIPs functionality as defined by its driver and use in its place the systems Epson printer driver. After all, why allow for a direct connection selection for the printer when there is an another option to set this up as a "Windows" printer? After all, aren't all attached printers actual printers of Windows.? So I now have no clue what the other option is used for. So, am I correct in thinking this "Windows" port type selection is the correct selection for me?

I have been scanning the multivolume manual, and the reference manual. I am dumbfounded over all the possible options to control the rendering of the image on paper. And the ColorGPS, which comes with my version, is another feature that offers me what I see as unprecedented control over how a profile is created. What have I gotten myself into? This may take me up to a couple months to become adept in its configuration and use. Many possibilities are here to consider and evaluate. So I took advantage of the 4-for-1 sale on Canon paper! LOL

PS This software has a very counter-intuitive user interface, This will needlessly complicate my learning curve.

Bob

« Last Edit: September 20, 2015, 04:38:50 am by r010159 »
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r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2015, 01:41:34 pm »

I now have a problem with printing out an image using a canned profile that comes with StudioPrint for my printer. I have specified the media type in Device Options of the Printer Environment. I am having the job default the input profile to the embedded profile of the image. I specify on the same screen the Relative Colorimetric Intent with black point compensation. I am using the defaults on everything else. I have not gone through the setup such as linearization, ink limit determination, and so forth. I assume that the this part of the configuration defaults to setup values that are embedded in the printer environment itself. The print ends up all washed out with a green tint. I have deleted and recreated the printer environment that I am using with this paper type, Epson Semi-Gloss.

Do any of you have any ideas?

I am thinking of going through the procedure of creating a custom profile for this paper. And I will go thro0ugh the setup of the printer environment that involves printer linearization and so forth.

Bob
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TylerB

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2015, 06:58:22 pm »

Bob, I feel your pain and wish I could help. There are just a myriad of things that could be gotchas here.. first of all, I would not assume there are any preset defaults with all the linearizing, limiting, etc.. Other than some occasional misc environments Ergo makes available for download, that's never been the case. You pretty much have to start from scratch, which also means redoing the profile for the linearized and limited state your environment has when done, as well as the countless settings for light inks, all the dot sizes, screening, etc..
Sorry
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r010159

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Re: StudioPrint 14 anyone?
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2015, 08:38:31 pm »


You have just confirmed my suspicions. This is just another mini-adventure for me. Dealing with the unpredictable. Looking for solutions. Eventually finding success. :)

Bob
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